A Ray of Sunshine
by hickorydaisy
Summary: When your flower begins to grow, that means you've met your soulmate. As your relationship with them deepens, the flower blooms until it covers your whole limb. For some people, multiple limbs have flowers. For some people, that wonderful moment where you realize you've met your soulmate (or soulmates) more than once. Cross-Posted From Ao3.


"Urghblargelflargel," was probably not what most people said when they first woke up. Of course, Maria was A) not most people and B) still half asleep. Waking up was not the most pleasant process in the world, but Maria could smell the coffee being brewed downstairs and now she had to get up so she could get some.

The first thing Maria did when she was awake enough to do so was look down at her right arm. Curling up her right arm was a sunflower, a beautiful flower that represented the relationship between herself and her husband. The leaves, as usual, had holes in them in the shapes of letters, spelling out her husband's latest message to her: "Don't worry love, Susie is with me."

"Don't worry, he says," Maria mutters to herself as she goes about getting dressed. "He should know by now that I do a whole lot of worrying."

As Maria pulled on her leggings, she paused, her fingers brushing over the bud on her right leg. It, along with the bud on her left arm, had yet to even begin to grow. She'd never met her other two soulmates. She wondered what kind of flower they were. She knew they were her husband's soulmates as well, it only worked that way.

Then there was a crash from downstairs and Maria practically flew down them.

"Mama, Mama! Lookie, I'm helpin' Daddy!" Susie, Maria's two-year-old daughter ran over to her mother, moving her hands in a way that made it clear she wanted to be picked up.

"Are you now?" Maria asked as she scoped Susie into her arms. She looked around the family coffee shop located beneath the apartment, and noticed that one of the chairs had been pushed into another and they'd both gone down. Maria assumed that must have been the crash she heard.

"Sorry about that, love," Maria's husband approached her and planted a kiss on her cheek. "I meant only to try and keep her out of your hair for a while so you could sleep in."

"Oh, Alexander," Maria gave an exasperated sigh, "You really didn't have to do that."

"But you've been the one watching her during store hours for the past week!" Alexander pouted, "And I know that you miss talking to everyone."

"That's completely unrelated, Alexander, and you know it," Maria smirked at him, "But I would like you to be the one on office duty today. I do miss talking to Peggy - And I suppose everyone else to."

Alexander broke into a grin that clearly stated that the arrangement would work for the day, but they were interrupted by an irritated-sounding huff.

"Honestly, you two are so sweet it hurts," Hercules rolled his eyes.

"You, mon ami, are just jealous," Lafayette poked Hercules' cheek.

"You know I don't care," Hercules turned back towards the kitchen. "But you know Peggy does, so keep it down when she's here."

Alexander rolled his eyes at his friends/employees and took a giggling Susie from Maria. "I'm headed to the office, Maria. Message me if you need anything." He left with a quick kiss on Maria's cheek.

Maria smiled, walked over to the front door, unlocked it and flipped the sign to 'Open,' and moved to sit behind the counter. Once behind the counter, she pulled out her work sketchbook. A week-old sketch of Alexander stared back at her from the page it was open to. Maria looked at it a moment, then shook her head slightly and flipped the page. She put her pencil to the paper and let the picture in her head begin to come to life in front of her.

"Maria! I haven't seen you in a week!" A voice snapped Maria out of drawing mode. There was an actual customer in the store and she had to do her job.

"Hey, Peggy!" Maria grinned at her friend. "Let me guess, one caramel mocha?"

"You betcha!" Peggy grinned, bouncing. "What are you drawing today, Mar?"

"Take a look," Maria said as she moved to make Peggy's drink. "It's a great picture, at least so far."

Peggy grinned and pulled the sketchbook across the counter and peered at it. "Is that… Jamie?"

"Yep!" Maria grinned. "I was re-watching season one with Alexander last night and was reminded of what an amazing character she is."

"Yes! Jamie is an amazing, murderous, conniving, manipulative sweetheart and I love her!" Peggy was practically vibrating at this point. "Can I have the picture when you're done?"

"Of course!" Maria moved back over to the counter and handed Peggy her drink.

"Thank you so much!" Peggy grinned and forked over a Lincoln. "For both the drink and the picture."

Maria shrugged and passed Peggy back her change. "Anything for a fellow fan of Jamie Moriarty."

"Ha! Well, see you around, Mar," Peggy said as she hurried back out of the store. Sometimes, Maria was too happy. Peggy wished she could be that happy.

It was beginning to rain, and Peggy didn't have a umbrella. She was only wearing a yellow floral sundress and her favorite denim jacket - the former because yellow projected the idea that she was happier than she was, and the jacket - well, Peggy didn't like it when people saw her arms.

Peggy hated the rain. It was like the sky was crying, and when other people cried, she did too. She needed to get out of the rain before she started crying. She hated it when people saw her crying.

Unfortunately for Peggy, the closest place to take shelter from the store was her sister's non-profit. Faced with no other choice (that she liked) Peggy ducked inside, already dripping wet.

"Peggy! I didn't expect you to be by today!"

"Yeah, well, you know how much I hate the rain, Angelica," Peggy shot back.

"Geez, no need to be so defensive," Angelica rolled her eyes.

"Right, sorry. How's your girlfriend?" Peggy wrang out one of her pigtails.

"Fiance, I've told you! And Sally is just fine, thank you for asking."

"What's this about me?" Sally emerged from the hallway. "Oh, hey, Peggy! Is it just the day that all of your sisters stop by, Angel?"

"Apparently," Angelica rolled her eyes.

"Wait, Eliza's here?" Peggy asked.

"Yeah, she just stole your coffee," Angelica grinned. "I've never seen you be so careless about your precious mocha before."

"Wait, what?!" Peggy whirled around to find that, yes, Eliza had just stolen her coffee. "Eliza! That was mine!"

"Holy shit, this is the best coffee I've ever tasted," Eliza was staring at the cup in her hands with a look of awe. "Where did you get this?"

"A Ray of Sunshine, that coffee place I've only been telling you about since forever," Peggy snapped, grabbing her coffee back from Eliza. "If you want one, you ought to just go get one yourself."

"I think I will," Eliza grinned and pulled on her rain jacket, tucking her notebook inside. "See you guys later!"

Eliza slipped out into the rain and began humming as she walked along the road. There was something calming about the rain. It was uniform but unique, like a book that used every single trope in the history of narrative. Huh, that would actually be kinda interesting, a lot of tropes would have trouble working together, so a story that used all of them would be unique in its own way. Maybe Eliza could write a story like that after she finished her current book.

The coffee shop her sister talked about so much was only a couple of blocks away from Snowdrops and Sunflowers, Angelica and Sally's lab/non-profit, but none of them had ever been, just Peggy. Eliza would ask why, but the simple answer was that when Eliza went to get coffee, she also sat down to write, and she did not like trying to places to write. That was not a thing that she did.

A Ray of Sunshine had a sort of magical feel to it, if Eliza was honest. It was small, but projected this feeling of warmth and camaraderie, like Thanksgiving Dinner. Eliza approached the door with a slight feeling of apprehension, but walked inside in a mostly confident manner. Inside was even more warm and cozy, and Eliza felt like the owners must have tried to concentrate the feeling of 'home'. It was lovely.

Eliza made her way to the counter to order the same drink as her sister, and was struck by the beauty of the woman at the counter. If it wasn't for the sunflower curling up her right arm - well, she cut herself off. It was better not to dwell on the impossible.

"Hey! I've never seen you in here before! What do you want to drink?" The gorgeous woman behind the counter spoke to Eliza.

"Oh! Um… My sister got something from here…" Eliza was embarrassed. Stop, she told herself, this woman's already found her soulmate!

"Ah. Eliza or Angelica?" the woman smirked.

"Wh-what?"

"The only customer who came in today with sisters was Peggy, and she told me she had one named Eliza and one named Angelica. So, which are you?"

"E-Eliza," Eliza was surprised. Peggy talked about her to gorgeous women?

"Well, Eliza, nice to meet you. I'm Maria, one of the co-owners of this fine establishment. I'm guessing you want a caramel mocha, like Peggy?" Maria gave Eliza a warm smile.

"Y-yeah," Eliza heard herself say. Was that what Peggy's drink had been? It didn't matter. Maria was beautiful. If only that sunflower wasn't there…

Maria hummed as she got Eliza's drink made. She approached the counter again with a full cup and began to hand it over. "Here you g-"

Eliza was alarmed. What was wrong with Maria? She had just stopped. What was it?

"ALEXANDER!" a shout ripped its was from Maria's mouth, and rumbled through the whole building.

Eliza was confused. Something was wrong with Maria? Maybe not? Who was Alexander? What was the thumping coming down the hallway?

The last one turned out to the be the easiest to answer, as all of the sudden a man rounded the corner, flushed and panicked. "Maria!" he gasped, rushing over to her. Ah, so this was the sunflower than. He did have a matching rose up his left arm.

"Look!" Maria thrust her left arm out at Alexander, a wide grin splitting her face. "It's beautiful!"

Eliza was even more confused now, but made an effort to hide it.

"This is her?" Alexander was looking at Eliza now, a look of almost awe on his face.

"Wh-who's me?" Eliza finally managed to speak.

Maria ran over to her, grinning. "Look!" Maria said, showing Eliza her left arm - upon which the bud of a bluebell had just begun to bloom.

Eliza felt her eyes go wide. There was no way - was there? She pushed up the sleeves of her rain jacket, but didn't see anything. She bent down to look at the one on her right leg - and there it was. A rose bud, beginning to bloom.

"By the goddess above…" Eliza looked up at Maria.

"Alexander," Maria turns back and gestures to the man, "Come meet our soulmate! This is Eliza!"

Alexander strode toward Eliza and scoped her into a hug. Eliza was a bit stunned, but she grinned into his shoulder before collapsing onto him, sobbing with joy.

"I thought I would never find either of you…" Eliza choked out as Maria wrapped her arms around the both of them.

"Shh…" Maria whispered to her. "We've got you, Liza. Don't worry about a thing."

Two months had past since Eliza had found two of her soulmates, since she had meet Susie and began practically living at A Ray of Sunshine. Only two months… but it felt like it had been a lot longer. She now had a table she often commandeered near the counter of the store where she would work on her novel all day, and her flowers - a rose on her right leg and a sunflower on her left arm - curled upward, nearly fully bloomed already. It was almost perfect.

It would be perfect if they could find their last soulmate.

Not that it wasn't amazing the way it was, and it was quite funny to watch her sisters try to figure out what had happened at the coffee shop, as she had begun wearing long sleeves and pants - it was tradition to cover a half-bloomed flower.

"Mommy!" Susie ran up to Eliza, grinning. She had begun calling Eliza 'Mommy' almost as soon as she found out that she was her parents' soulmate. "You gotta take me ta see animals!"

"What?" Eliza asked, a bit bemused.

"She wants you to take her to the pet store," Maria explained, walking up from behind Susie. "Would you? Don't buy anything though."

Eliza smiled. "Of course! I used to like going to the pet store to look at the animals too. Come on, Susie!"

"Yay! Mommy's gonna take me ta see da animals!" Susie bounced up and down with excitement.

Maria chuckled. "Have fun you two!" she said, giving Eliza a quick kiss before Eliza and Susie left.

The layout of this town made no sense, Eliza thought. The pet-store-slash-animal-shelter The Smitten Kitten was only three blocks from A Ray of Sunshine, and a good thing too, since Eliza had yet to get Susie a carseat for her car.

Walking there was fairly easy. Susie held her hand, there were very few cars driving around, and the weather was good. Walking into the place? Help.

The first thing Susie saw when she walked in the door was a cute cat being held by a man that she didn't know. The first thing Eliza saw when she walked in the door was an attractive man holding a cat she didn't care about.

Crap.

The attractive man turned toward them when he heard the door open, and grinned when he saw the look on Susie's face. "You want to pet her? Her name is Daisy."

Susie looked up at him and nodded vigorously, her smile so wide Eliza was surprised the little girl's face wasn't hurting.

"Ok," he said, smiling in a way that really looked cute and crap his freckles. He lead Susie to a chair, had her sit down, and then put Daisy in her lap so Susie could pet her easily. "Be gentle, ok?"

"Ok, mister!" Susie grinned before starting to pet the cat.

"Whoops, I never introduced myself, did I? I'm John," The man, John, chuckled nervously.

"I'm Susie!" Susie proclaimed. "And this is my Mommy!"

"Eliza," Eliza found herself blurting out. "My name is Eliza."

"Alright, Eliza," John was grinning at her help, "Are you looking to adopt an animal or are you just looking?"

"I wanna take Daisy home!" Susie declared from her seat.

"Daisy is a very lovely cat, Susie, but your Mama would cause a riot," Eliza chided, shaking her head. "She said not to bring anything home."

"But we gotta take John home!" Susie, an ever-observant young girl, furrowed her brow.

"Wh-what?" John's face flushed red, and clearly showing his confusion.

"I don't know what you mean, Susie," Eliza said, "Why do we have to take John home?"

"Because he's my Papa now!" Susie stated as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Ignoring John's flustered sputtering, Eliza asked, "And why is that, Susie?"

"Because when you were talkin' ta him his flower started growin', an' tha' means he's your soulmate, which means he's Mama and Daddy's soulmate too, so he's my Papa now!" Susie tilted her head, a look of confusion on her face. "Isn't that how it works?"

Eliza's eyes went wide, flicking to John's arms - and sure enough, a bluebell was beginning to grow. She saw John's eyes go to it too - they grew wide and his mouth fell open in the same way hers did, staring at the blooming bud. Just to make certain, but also completely sure it would be there, Eliza rolled up the sleeve of her jacket, and the daisy had indeed begun to bloom.

Oh by the goddess above, it was a Daisy.

"Yeah," Eliza breathed after a moment, before taking a deep breath and regaining her composure. "You're completely right Susie. Your Mama might not be all that pleased, but we'll be bringing both the man and the cat home."


End file.
